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Once and Future Myths: The Power of Ancient Stories in Our Lives

Once and Future Myths: The Power of Ancient Stories in Our Lives

by Phil Cousineau, ,

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The bestselling author of The Art of Pilgrimage examines the connection mythology to contemporary life, and what that means for self-improvement.

Author Phil Cousineau elucidates how myths are the stories of real life whether people are conscious of them as myths or not. He shows readers how, by becoming aware of myths in both their historical and present form, they can read the world better, with a deeper understanding of work, love, creativity, and spirituality. The book retells classic myths such as Eros and Psyche and provides new accounts of more contemporary mythmakers such as Jim Morrison and Vincent van Gogh, illustrating how these legends have affected history, culture, and individuals. The timelessness of myth is conveyed through Cousineau’s discussions of the mythology of travel, mentors, cities, baseball, and vampires.

Praise for Once and Future Myths

“A tantalizing, delightfully personal travelogue through the landscape of some of the modern myths that shape and misshape our lives.” —Sam Keen, author of Learning to Fly and Hymns to an Unknown God

“Cousineau draws on his extensive work with Joseph Campbell to reveal mythic insights for everyday life. He finds openings in the tidy margins of experience to the enveloping intensity of the archetypal dimension.” —Jonathon Young, PhD, founding curator, Joseph Campbell Archives and Library

“Cousineau proves himself to be a meaning-maker par excellence as he delves deeply into some of the major concerns of our age . . . . Cousineau enables us to understand myth as the soulful pulse underlying our deepest yearnings for meaning.” —Spirituality & Practice
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  • Phil Cousineau

    PHIL COUSINEAU is an award-winning writer and filmmaker, teacher and editor, lecturer, storyteller and TV host. His fascination with the art, literature, and history of culture has taken him from Michigan to Marrakesh, Iceland to the Amazon, in a worldwide search for what the ancients called the "soul of the world." With more than 35 books and 15 scriptwriting credits to his name, the "omnipresent influence of myth in modern life" is a thread that runs through all of his work.

    TALKS & TRAVELS: Phil Cousineau lectures frequently on a wide spectrum of topics that reflect his mythic and scholarly journeys, including mythology, movies, writing, beauty, language, travel, sports, and creativity. He has appeared with some of the great thinkers and philosophers of our time, such as mentors Joseph Campbell and Huston Smith. An expert on pilgrimage and meaningful travel, Cousineau also leads small group journeys and writing retreats to sacred and culturally rich places. To learn more, visit: http://www.philcousineau.net/disc.htm

    BOOKS: Phil Cousineau's books include STOKING THE CREATIVE FIRES, ONCE AND FUTURE MYTHS, THE ART OF PILGRIMAGE: THE SEEKER'S GUIDE TO MAKING TRAVEL SACRED, THE HERO'S JOURNEY: JOSEPH CAMPBELL ON HIS LIFE AND WORK, SOUL: AN ARCHAEOLOGY, and WORDCATCHER. Other books include BEYOND FORGIVENESS, THE PAINTED WORD, and BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL. An expanded edition of Phil Cousineau's travel stories inspired by his decades on the road, THE BOOK OF ROADS, and a collection of Cousineau's own aphorisms and sayings, THE ACCIDENTAL APHORIST, are his most recent books. Cousineau's books have been translated into more than ten languages, and he is a contributor to more than 50 other books.

    FILMS: Phil Cousineau's screenwriting credits in documentary films have won more than 25 international awards, and include: A SEAT AT THE TABLE, ECOLOGICAL DESIGN, WAYFINDERS, THE PEYOTE ROAD, WIPING THE TEARS OF SEVEN GENERATIONS, THE HERO'S JOURNEY; and the Academy Award-nominated FOREVER ACTIVISTS.

    TV & APPEARANCES: Phil Cousineau is co-writer and host of GLOBAL SPIRIT, Link TV's "internal travel" television series broadcasting on World and Local PBS stations. He has also appeared on CNN, The Discovery Channel, and NFL Films, and more. He has been featured on Voice of America, PRI's The World, CBC's Tapestry, Deepak Chopra's Wellness Radio, and NPR's Weekend Edition. He has been interviewed for stories in TIME and NEWSWEEK as well as the NEW YORK TIMES. He has been a judge for the Emmys, the San Francisco Film Festival, and the PEN-WEST literary awards. Look for his expert commentary and mythic take on film among the special features on several Warner Brothers DVDs. In 2016 he provided on-camera commentary for MAJOR LEAGUE LEGENDS, the Smithsonian Channel and MLB-produced series on baseball's most iconic ballplayers.

    CONSULTING: An expert on mythology and film and the "hero journey" structure of screenplays, Cousineau has consulted on film projects for Warner Bros., LucasFilm, and Pixar. He also consults on all types of writing projects, and leads annual writing retreats.

    Phil Cousineau lives with his family in North Beach in San Francisco, California. He is currently finishing one book on beauty, a book about Sisyphus, and another on baseball. Learn more about his work at http://www.philcousineau.net.